MISSING WOMAN FOUND BY POLICE AS SHE’S ATTEMPTING SUICIDE

Sunday, May 23, 2010— A suburban woman missing since Wednesday was located by Cook County Sheriff’s Police detectives shortly after she had used double-edged razors to slice her wrists in an attempt to kill herself, Cook County Sheriff Thomas J. Dart announced on Sunday.

Darcy Culberg, 52, who lives in unincorporated Glenview, was tracked down by police in a Prospect Heights motel room on Saturday evening. When she answered the door, her wrists had recently been cut. She was taken in an ambulance to Northwest Community Hospital and treated for her injuries, before being admitted for mental health services.

“We had multiple detectives and police officers working around the clock to find this woman before something horrible happened to her,” Dart said.

“Thankfully, that hard work paid off and we were able to get to her just in time and then get her the appropriate help she needs.”

Family members called sheriff’s police late Wednesday after they became concerned about her behavior. Culberg, who has a history of mental illness, was distraught, making ominous comments to them and had left her Northfield Township home that morning and not returned since. On Thursday, Culberg’s 2001 Jeep was found abandoned on a neighborhood street in Mt. Prospect and a resident there saw Culberg walking north from the vehicle.

Sheriff’s police canvassed the immediate area and learned she may have recently been at a Super 8 Motel in Mt. Prospect, but left on foot. On Thursday and Friday, sheriff’s police used K9 and helicopter units to help search for Culberg, while also notifying suburban police, interviewing friends, neighbors, fellow church members and visiting areas known to Culberg, all without success.

Around 5:30 p.m. Saturday, detectives visited the Sherwood Inn, 1246 S. Milwaukee Ave., Prospect Heights, as the lobby had been closed on previous visits by police. A clerk recognized a picture of Culberg and said she had recently checked into a room there. When police knocked on the door, Culberg answered and provided irrational explanations for why she had to kill herself.

That’s when detectives saw razor blades on a bathroom sink and blood on the floor. Culberg allowed them in and they saw her wrists had been slashed and she had lost a substantial amount of blood.

She was then transported to the hospital and her family was notified that she had been safely located.